


Under the Light

by gigantic



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Kissing, M/M, Slow Dancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 00:11:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12876039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigantic/pseuds/gigantic
Summary: Zach and Auston linger together.





	Under the Light

**Author's Note:**

> They're 17 in this. There's no sex.

_sealed with a kiss_ , Auston texts, and Zach’s phone buzzes again a moment later with a selfie. Head tilted up, angled toward the light. Auston has lipstick just underneath his cheekbone. An impressively perfect press of lips decorates his skin. 

Zach types, _only on the cheek_

 _well to start_ , Auston writes. 

Zach laughs at the winking emoji tacked at the end. Niko looks away from the girls he’s talking to and leans over. 

“What are you laughing at?” 

“Nothing,” Zach says. “Auston’s telling me about prom.”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you would’ve been there this year,” Niko says. “What are you missing?” 

“Not much.” There are things about skipping his senior year that he does miss — more chances to hang out with his friends, mostly. A dance doesn’t really even make Zach’s top 10. He’s been to others, and he’s at a party right now. 

“Tell him I said hi.”

“Hey, Auston, this guy you don’t know says hi,” Zach says aloud as he types out something that is definitely not that. Instead he sends _and yet you have time to text me_. 

Niko says, “We met! That one time. We had hot chocolates after their game.”

“Oh, yeah.” Zach kind of forgot Niko was there for that. He and Dylan had made plans to see a game together and ended up with a whole group of Wolverines because none of them had better ideas for the night. “I’m still not telling him hello for you.”

“Just rude,” Niko says. 

Zach snorts, trying not laugh but Niko’s pout is particularly dramatic. Maybe the beers are starting to get to him. 

_had to save some for next time_ , Auston sends. 

_where are you now?_

Zach’s phone vibrates again pretty quickly. Auston’s written, _still here, kind of. lingering._

Niko’s been distracted by someone attempting an actual keg stand, so Zach edges out of the room and heads for the front door. The porch isn’t empty. A small group is holding court around the swing to his right, and he’s pretty sure there’s a couple making out on his opposite side, but he doesn’t turn his head fully to confirm. 

Dialing through, Zach presses his cell phone to his ear and listens for the ring. Only one burst sounds in his ear before Auston picks up. 

“Hey,” he says.

“Why are you lurking at your prom with no date?” Zach asks.

Auston chuckles. “She has some appointment early that her parents wouldn’t let her reschedule, so she bailed early. I’m not ready to go home yet.” 

“So. Creeping.” 

“It’s nice out. Might as well enjoy it,” Auston says. “How’s Detroit?”

“I’m actually on the other side of you. I drove out to Ann Arbor this morning to meet up with some guys. We ended up at this party.” 

“A good one?”

“Ehh.” Zach isn’t really even in the mood to drink, so he’s not feeling the scene as much as others, but he gets not being ready to head home yet either. “I’m lingering, too, I guess.” 

“Did you drive?”

“Yeah,” Zach says. He sits down on the top step and picks at a tiny hole forming in the knee of his jeans.

Auston says, “Well, if you’re really bored, I could use a getaway car here. I’m on your way.”

“They didn’t do it at the school, right?”

“No, I’ll text you.”

“I didn’t say I was coming.” 

“You also didn’t say you wouldn’t,” Auston says, and Zach can hear the smile in his voice. “Please?”

Zach weighs it. Niko can probably catch a ride back with one of the other guys. He should double check that, but he still tells Auston, “Fine. Text me.” 

Hanging up, Zach stands and searches for Niko again. He makes sure that Niko has another option for getting home, and then he says goodbyes as he works his way out of the house a second time. Auston’s right; it’s a nice night. There’s a breeze, but it feels good after rubbing elbows with people filling out a house party. 

He gets in his car, puts the address into his Maps and shakes his head at how far it actually is.

Luckily traffic isn’t terrible. A late-night construction bottleneck forms 10 minutes into his drive, but Zach rides through while the cars are just slow-moving instead of stop-and-go. He finds a parking spot on the far end of the lot and dials Auston’s number. 

“You owe me,” he says when Auston answers. “This is not on the way.”

“I said sort of, didn't I? I meant sort of. You came anyway?” Auston’s chuckling in his ear. “Where are you?”

“Around the back. I tried to keep an eye out, but I didn’t see you.” 

“Hold on, I’m coming around there now.”

Zach turns off the car and steps out to keep watch. It takes a moment to spot Auston, but Zach holds up his arm as soon as he does. Auston starts jogging when he sees him. He’s still wearing his suit, but his bowtie is undone.

“What’s this?” Zach asks once he’s close enough, flicking at the loose ends.

“It gets a little irritating after awhile.” Auston rubs at his neck. “Pale pink is my color, though, right?”

Zach laughs. “It’s a perfect complement,” he says. “Though the full pink suit is probably still the best. You should’ve committed.”

“She wouldn’t let me. I asked.” Auston’s laughing too now. He brings up photos on his phone and tilts the screen toward Zach to show him. “I wanted her to shine anyway.” 

“What a gentleman.” 

“We split a limo ride with other people here, too.” He leans against the car when Zach does, going through more of his photos. “Only for the arrival.”

“What was the plan for getting home?” 

“Calling parents, carpooling.” Auston sticks his phone in his pocket. “Luke got to borrow a car tonight, but he’s nowhere near done right now.”

Zach folds his arms. “Good thing you know me.”

“Good thing you go to lame parties.” Auston rocks to the side and bumps their shoulders together. “Can we go now?”

“I thought you didn’t want to go home?”

“I don’t,” Auston says, walking around to the passenger side. 

Zach rolls his eyes but climbs back into the driver’s seat and starts the ignition. “Where to?”

Auston shrugs. “No idea.” He reaches out to mess with the radio, punching through the stations quickly and abandoning it in favor of plugging the aux cord into his phone when he only finds ads. “I’m kind of hungry, if you’re up for it.”

Sure. Zach isn’t starving, but he could pick at some french fries or something. The hour is late enough that any signs of activity dwindle once they’re gotten a few miles away from the banquet hall. Zach rolls through three intersections before he finally has to slow for a yellow and stop at a light. 

He doesn’t recognize the rapper Auston’s playing well enough to remember his name, but he could swear Auston’s played this track around him before. Glancing over, Zach catches Auston saying all the words under his breath. He half-smiles when he notices Zach looking and really leans into the next line. 

“Who is this?” Zach asks.

“Joey Badass.” Auston undoes a couple more buttons on his dress shirt and shrugs out of his suit jacket. Zach keeps stealing looks as the light changes, Auston reclining his seat after he’s freed his arms, like settling in is routine. Shedding layers, finding his groove.

Zach drives until they run across a restaurant that’s open. It has a bar, but they’re still allowed to sit down to order burgers and other grill food. With his bow tie and jacket still in the car, Auston looks — well, he still looks like he’s had a fancier night than Zach, but it’s a more relaxed aesthetic than the photos from earlier. He looks comfortable, stretching up and then out across the countertop, hands pressed flat and spread wide. Zach drums his fingers in the spaces between Auston’s, hopping to the right and then back again before Auston sits back in his seat, amused. 

“Where to after this?” Auston asks. 

“I don’t know.” Zach shrugs, extending his arm across the short back of Auston’s chair. It’s cut low, more for design than support, and the knuckle of his thumb rubs against Auston’s spine through his shirt. “We’re making it up as we go.”

He’s not much for aimless wandering, usually, but there’s something about the season rolling into summer that always makes it seem more interesting. The way everything gets quiet feels more inviting when the air is warmer. Plus — no school, no hockey. It’s different enough to make Zach feel different, too.

“Cool with me,” Auston says.

One of the bartenders gets them a couple glasses of water to sip while they wait for their takeout. Auston nudges his foot against Zach’s idly, and Zach kicking back turns into a nonsense match until a woman slides two styrofoam containers in front of them and asks if they need anything else.

Zach stacks them and starts to rise. “We’re all set, thank you.” 

Auston holds the food in his lap in the car. Zach still doesn’t have a specific destination in mind, so he starts on the route toward where Auston’s staying. Trying a detour or two eventually takes them past a park. Zach pulls over in the parking lot of the edge of the property and lets the car idle with the heat on low, just enough to brace against the cool night air a while longer. 

He turns it off once Auston has divvied up the meals and napkins. Zach knows he’ll probably regret making his car smell like burgers and fries later, but right now everything smells delicious. 

They sit with the radio on while they chew. Zach finally turns off the car but leaves the music playing. Auston must be shuffling through artists, because they’re in the middle of a rock song now. 

“This is pretty good,” Zach says, halfway through the his burger. 

Auson nods. “It’s hard to mess up basic bar food.”

Zach snorts. “How would you know?”

Rolling his eyes, Auston says, “I mean — I assume. Burgers and tenders, all stuff people serve at regular cookouts.” 

“Can I steal one of your curly fries?” 

“Go for it.”

Zach had gotten excited when he saw sweet potato fries on the menu, but Auston’s look so good. He shakes one free and tips his head back to drops it into his mouth before it can break in the middle. Auston reaches out to grab some of Zach’s in return.

The dips into silence are companionable, music saving them from the eerie quiet of an empty park. Auston’s phone is still shuffling through a random mix of songs, loyal to no genre. 

“Is this a playlist?” Zach asks.

“Not mine. I found somebody’s party mix,” Auston says. 

“Was the music at prom all top 40? Someone’s Spotify?” 

Auston laughs. “No, they had a real DJ. He was actually pretty good, even though Ed Sheeran dominated the wind downs.”

Zach says, “You probably danced to it.”

“Hell yeah.” Auston wipes his hands on a napkin. “My date loved Sheeran’s slow jams, and I loved showing I have rhythm. And the kissing. Thanks, Ed.”

Zach chokes on a sweet potato fry. He thumps his hand against his chest. “Don’t make me laugh while I’m eating.”

“I wasn’t telling a joke,” Auston says, but he rubs Zach’s back sympathetically. 

Zach recovers enough that he dares pick up another piece of potato. “Which song helped you make a move?” he asks and pops it into his mouth, chewing carefully.

“Man, she kissed me. You know the song; the one that’s on the radio.” Auston starts humming, veering off-key as his voice twists up. 

“What was that?” Zach asks. Auston repeats it, and Zach furrows his brow. “I’m not sure. Keep going.”

Auston catches on and flings out his arm to hit Zach’s lightly. “I can’t fucking stand you.”

“You asked to hang out with me tonight,” Zach reminds me.

“I asked for a _ride_ ,” Auston says, picking up his phone to go through his app. Zach’s expecting it when the song switches to lilting pop music. He doesn’t recognize the opening strain, but Ed Sheeran’s voice kicks in and, yeah, okay. He knows this.

He’s not at all expecting Auston to open the passenger door and get out of the car.

“What are you doing?” Zach leans toward Auston’s side, trying to follow. He goes around the back of the car, leaving Zach completely lost, and then Auston’s tugging at the driver’s side door.

“Open it,” he says, knocking on the window. “Hit the lock.”

“What—” Zach starts, but he presses the unlock button. Auston’s pulling the door open and trying to get Zach to stand before he can even think of the rest of his question. “You’re gonna make me drop these fries.”

“Well, put ‘em down.”

Zach manages to set his food on the seat as Auston gets him all the way out. He guides closer, bringing them face-to-face. This has to look ridiculous to anyone passing by, both car doors wide open while Ed Sheeran spills out from the sound system.

“Give me your other hand,” Auston says.

“What are you doing?”

“Give me your hand.” Auston reaches to clasp it himself, bringing Zach’s arm up. He rests his left hand on Zach’s side. Zach isn’t a total idiot. He can recognize a ballroom-worthy pose, but he’s also in jeans and flip-flops while Auston’s still wearing nice dress slacks and shiny shoes. 

“I’m not slow-dancing in the middle of nowhere,” Zach says.

“Too late. I think you actually already are,” Auston says, swaying. “Follow my lead.”

He doesn’t give Zach much time to question that, stepping forward. He clips Zach’s foot, and Zach laughs. “Wait.”

“I said follow!” 

It’s a disaster. Going backwards is really weird, and he’s pretty sure this song doesn’t even work for the pace Auston’s trying to set. After a few bars Zach manages to go with it enough that Auston isn’t smashing his toes anymore, but the giggling doesn’t stop. Auston isn’t any better, even if he keeps trying to say, “No, for real. Z, really.” He tries to maintain a straight face, but it’s impossible, because they’re partner dancing on the edge of a park.

“Someone could jump in my car and steal it right now,” Zach says. 

“You shouldn’t have doubted my skills,” Auston says right back, nonchalant. “Spin.”

“What the fuck.” Zach is appalled, but he doesn’t know what else to do when Auston lifts his arm to turn him. “Where am I going?”

“Just let me lead you — under, under.” Auston braces his hip as he comes around again, chuckling at the way Zach gets his feet tangled up somehow. “There you go. You’ll make it eventually.”

“You did this to your date? This is embarrassing. No way she liked it.”

Auston rolls his eyes, but he goes right back to making Zach move around in the same sort of box formation. Box step? Zach knows nothing about ballroom, but that sounds like a term he’s heard once on TV before. He’s seen an episode or two of Dancing with the Stars.

“No, I kept it simple for her, but I practiced this. Someone should appreciate it,” Auston says. 

Zach laughs harder. “Are you kidding me? I’m the guinea pig,” he says. “Who taught you?”

“My mom, duh.” 

“So I can thank Ema for this humiliation.”

“You’re not doing that bad.” Auston raises an eyebrow, like a challenge. “Want me to dip you?”

Zach shakes his head. “I’ll fall and break my neck.”

“I wouldn’t let you,” Auston tells him and starts to angle for it. Zach startles, yelling, and that throws off their footing, sending them in the opposite direction. He has to hold out his hand to catch himself against the car, his adrenaline spiking. “Alright, I can’t hold you up if you do _that_.”

“My life flashed before my eyes,” Zach says flatly, leaning back on the car and catching his breath.

Auston stands in front of him, rubbing his shoulders. “You were not going to die.” 

“I could’ve hit my head,” Zach says. “Career over. Life over.” 

“You sound like Dylan,” Auston says, pinching the skin at the curve between Zach’s neck and shoulder. 

“At least he’s getting a taste of playing pro right now,” Zach says. “I still have to make it to the draft.”

“Luckily you survived.” 

Auston doesn’t seem all that worried for Zach’s well-being, even though his box step death trap caused the near miss. Zach isn’t sure what shifts his focus, a breeze picking up for a second or Ed Sheeran crooning “we found love right where we are” as the songs winds down, but he realizes how close they still are. His feet are spread enough to keep him steady, Auston standing in the vacant space. With Zach leaning, Auston is a hair taller, at just the right position to make Zach have to lift his chin slightly to maintain eye contact. 

“So what earned you the kiss, if not the dancing?” Zach asks. 

Auston lifts a shoulder. “The song. My face. I don’t know.”

“Cocky,” Zach says, laughing softly. 

The lipstick is still on Auston’s cheek. Zach might have something like that of his own, if he’d gone. If he’d stayed. He had an awesome time at UMich this past year, especially getting to play with Dylan for another season, but he wonders what it would’ve been like to have a couple more semesters with Auston flying down the ice. They had fun last year.

He reaches up and rubs a thumb over Auston’s cheek, smearing the makeup a little. Not much. 

“That trophy isn’t coming off easily,” Zach says. Auston hums in response, noncommittal, and turns his face against Zach’s hand, nuzzling. His mouth grazes Zach’s palm. It’s not a press of lips, but it makes Zach think about Auston’s mouth more acutely and how cozy he feels despite the coolness of the night and the car window at his back. 

Zach nudges Auston’s chin with the edge of his hand, pulling him back. He blinks at Zach, still quiet, and Zach pushes up to close the gap. The music’s all wrong. He has no idea what Ed Sheeran’s singing now, but it sounds sad, and there are strings, and Zach kisses Auston anyway. Auston’s lips give easily, letting him in. He tips his head and slides his hands down Zach’s arms, eventually fitting over Zach’s sides again, like he could pin Zach here for a while. Settled. 

This isn’t at all how Zach imagined his night going. He doesn’t think there’s any way he would’ve anticipated kissing Auston in a parking lot completely sober for the duration of some pop ballad, but Auston’s lips are soft, and Zach’s heart is pounding. He’s pretty sure he’s never felt nervous about something he was already in the middle of doing before. Auston starts curling and uncurling his fingers in tiny soothing swipes. Zach shivers, ticklish and affected. 

As the second song ends, he pulls back and inhales deeply. He exhales slow, staring at Auston’s throat instead of his face. Zach watches his Adam’s apple bob as Auston swallows and asks, “So, was it the music or my face?”

Zach snorts, caught off guard by a quip he probably should’ve seen coming. “It definitely wasn’t the music.”

Auston squints, discerning. “So… my face.” 

“Let it go.” Zach jabs at his shoulder, nudging him back. 

“What? I’m trying to get to the bottom of this now.” Auston stumbles away but comes back, ducking to make sure he can see Zach’s eyes. “Hey,” he says. “Was that alright?” 

He gradually gets so close again that Zach can’t really make sense of him, the two of them briefly sharing breath. 

“Mhm,” he says. When Auston cranes forward slowly, careful, Zach doesn’t stop him. He kisses Auston again for a moment, and then sighs. “I should drive you back at some point.” 

“In a minute,” Auston murmurs. “There’s probably traffic.”

Oh, yeah. Sure. That makes complete sense at this hour. 

“Right,” Zach whispers. They can take their time. He isn’t in a rush.


End file.
